Steady-State Economy

(NOTE: The title in the Mar 2015 card is "Create a Thriving No-Growth Economy")

Today’s economy is like an invasive pioneer plant — valuing growth above all else and using resources at an ever-accelerating rate. Pioneer-dominated ecosystems eventually either collapse or mature. Like an ecosystem, a mature economy doesn't need to grow to improve, evolve, and enrich itself.

Instead of: A stagnant or collapsed failed growth economy with high unemployment and other problems stemming from overshoot, recession and depression in the absence of alternates.

Previous version: Like a mature ecosystem, a steady-state economy is constantly changing, evolving, and enriching itself. Today’s economy is like an early succession ecosystem—valuing growth above all else and using resources at an ever-accelerating rate. At some point such a system evolves into a mature steady state or collapses. Other cards in this deck are keys to a dynamic steady-state economy that doesn’t require growth to function.